Jones Cranes
museum at Threlkeld in Cumbria ]] Jones Cranes was a UK brand for several types of crane all manufactured by K & L Steelfounders and Engineers Ltd from a large factory site based at Letchworth in Hertfordshire, England. This Company was very similar to the larger competitor called Coles Cranes Limited their closest rival manufacturer of several crane types, until Jones collapsed in the 1990s. The Jones Cranes brand have since returned under a new ownership and management in 2001. Production has meanwhile restarted that year again at Letchworth. Company History ;K & L Steelfounders And Engineers Ltd - 1915-1928 The Jones Cranes brand was founded in 1915 by two Belgian industrialists named Jacques Drynn and Raoul Lahy. The pair had the capital to invest on something huge that made them relocate to England but needed external development to help their own business. They were originally known as K & L Steelfounders And Engineers Limited ''a crane manufacturing company who were the original owners and traders of that famous name Jones Cranes from the 1930s. Before any major important development, they decide to build steam locomotives, several railway wagons, 2 and 3 axled trailers and later they attempt to make petrol engined cars. The company was later to became part of the giant ''George Cohen & Sons Group Ltd empire known globally as The 600 Group a long and old established steelworks engineering concern based in Stanningley near Leeds Yorkshire with their head office in London who aided and provided K & L with all the necessary mechanical and technical knowledge who later took over management and ownership of crane manufacturer K & L Ltd in the Spring of 1928. Then in early 1938 saw the original company name dropped but was renamed as JONES used for every single model of their mobile crane and yard crane machines made from this point under the tradename of Jones Cranes Limited a brand new designation for an already long experienced crane maker who were starting to become well known all over UK and in Europe too where Jones crane sales peaked at very high numbers until the 1990s almost rivalling Coles Cranes Ltd at times. Even the delicate 1930s proved good for Jones Cranes Ltd to be one of England´s best known and largest producers of diesel-mechanical crane manufacturers and exported their machines all over the world with very successful export levels and were selling them heavily to all the possible markets they found almost everywhere. War History has described and recorded that by 1941 they were producing over 1000 mobile cranes in World War II for the Allies needs during the conflict. These were frequently used in many locations for the British and the French during the wartime including the unloading the first Allies barges to land on the beaches of Arromanches at Normandy on D-Day. To meet the demand Jones manufactured 180 cranes in 25 weeks for the British Army. About the same time and period Coles Cranes were also involved by supplying hundreds of their truck-mounted Coles EMA models. Jones Cranes Ltd 1938-1994 When Peacetime returned Jones Cranes Ltd were finally able to expand and resume their manufacturing life so they started to modernise/update its entire mobile and yard crane model range using their external and internal resources with both new and old engineering since it was their only solution in 1945. Several different yard crane prototype models were made each of them using the KL letters, starting with one of the earliest the 1945 Jones KL22 a 4 wheeled yard crane with lattice jib and a oneman cab for any 2 ton lifts that became very popular in yacht clubs and stockyards with many hundreds of them sold. Around 1946 another new larger yard crane on 4 wheels appeared called the Jones KL44 for heavier 4 ton lifts that was another instant big seller that found many owners for assembling yards and builders cranes these became available mounted on just any British lorry of that decade orelse available as mobile cranes. In 1949 another yard crane the Jones KL66 was developed and it was bigger with more improved cab this was very similar to the KL44 but designed for any 6 ton lifts and it was an alternative to the very popular Coles Argosyardcrane that was the nearest similar machine around that time and this KL66 was also found mounted on numerous trucks too. So all these yardcrane Jones KL-Series models kept them very busy manufacturing them well until the 1970s when production of the KL cranes ended. With cash flowing into the firm due to their healthy sales this now gave Jones a chance to develop another whole new original concept but werent able to yet because they never built cranetrucks before of their own except their models mounted on standard AEC, ERF, FODEN and LEYLAND lorries. Jones Cranes Management then ordered to their next door neighbours called SD Shelvoke & Drewry Limited '''a very long established lorry firm to build them a special 6X6 offroad truck to use it as cranecarrier for their next prototype crane model using 3 axle drive. This was later known as the useful 1962 '''JONES KL10-10 6WD '''cranetruck their first original go-anywhere allwheel driven crane that was selling moderately well but suffered from the big sales champion and rival all hydraulic mobilecrane the famous and bigger '''Coles Hydra 4WD 4WS '''of about the same decade but the KL10-10 still sold well and it was available with either Leyland TD or Perkins Diesel engines similar to 1960s lorries. This KL10-10 6X6 a completely new model was partially co-developed by '''SD Ltd using a six wheel driven crosscountry chassis, built with a new 2 men fibreglass cab, with new hydraulic crane controls within the drivers cab, offroad driving axles and tyres plus a new 32ft long latticejib and was able to lift any 12 ton loads. Around 6980 models or so of them were sold with several improvements done to it until 1973 when its production ended. This was another successful first attempt at a new large model to have sold rather well and by the early 1970s Jones felt the need to redevelop their modern cranecarrier concept and they entered another period of internal redevelopment for diesel-hydraulic new models for that decade using other heavy truck mechanicals available like Bedford, Ford, Leyland, Cummins, Perkins and Scania in order to relaunch another new crane generation. JONES CRANES develops their new original Model Range JONES CRANES LIMITED opens a second factory in 1958 based at Halstead in Essex, that was mainly for the production of the smaller yardcranes the very successful Jones KL-Series all based on a four wheeled chassis, later a new JONES CRANES subsidiary was known as the K-L FOUNDRIES LIMITED. Meanwhile a eparate Northern UK company called Crane Travellers Limited, that are a specialist in making finished working parts for cranes and other general construction equipment, attempted to buy Vickers AWD Ltd of Swindon in Wiltshire, the well known road vehicle conversion expert, but CT Ltd never managed that because Vickers AWD were also owned by the giant Leeds-based operation The 600 Group. Crane Travellers company had been in existence since 1971 and helped to build several components for numerous other domestic manufacturers mainly UK crane firms and in 1977 Jones Cranes Ltd became their new managers and owners, both firms have worked together closely ever since as partners with CT Ltd as their mechanical and technical engineering division. Meanwhile by the late 1960s Vickers AWD Ltd was providing both Jones Cranes Ltd and smaller BHCC-IF Ltd with several large but latest new different crane-carrier models with alternative running gear and these were designated as the Vickers-AWD V500 Series to match most of their much larger and longer Jones mobile cranes available that decade each of them were entirely redeveloped and relaunched for their new model range of the 1970s. This was the most advanced solution that Jones was really searching for and these latest news assured that could join Coles Cranes and other UK crane brands to face the growing outside competition. Jones Cranes - Reorganised While Jones finally balaced as was Coles and other domestic crane makes and themselves enjoying endless sales all over the UK together with several other European markets not all was great unfortunately. As the big UK crane market was naturally growing since the 1970s to the early 1990s so did the numerous other foreign mobile crane and yard crane manufacturers found the open market access and these could be exported anywhere and everywhere. The result was that many were imported mostly from all over Europe, while others from the Far East and US brands were entering our market too. That meant a sudden New Wave of hundreds of ultramodern all hydraulic crane type makes and models to enter and invade the UK so this slowly proved to be fatal to some domestic brands and often disturbed the larger ones of our very own breed, though the only firm able to resist this foreign crane invasion was huge Coles Cranes Limited. While some UK makes were slowly collapsing one by one, due to the arrival of these new generation of machines the Jones company managed to survive the tough 1980s and early 1990s. Unfortunately by 1994 they were into trouble too and were closing their factory doors another similar fate that happened to the other makes.Sudden fierce competition of ultra new modern mobilecranes that totally swept the entire UK market and strangled our local construction machinery . JONES brand Returns ;Jones Cranes Limited - 2001-To Date (Revival) The name of JONES CRANES LTD is still around today when this historic UK crane company were successfully rescued, currently owned and managed since 2001 by small Southdown Engineers Ltd who acquired them and reopened the long closed doors but still intact Letchworth factory site where the original Jones Cranes works was and started reassembling plenty of abandoned models left unfinished remaining still there and slowly have resumed production but only Jones Crawler cranes to begin because earlier in 1994 just before closure it was their main output and some remaining mobile cranes left there have been finished recently. The Southdown Engineering Company are a construction machinery engineering firm and crane specialists that make and supply parts as well as rebuilding, refurbishing, restoring and repairing mobile cranes and yard cranes of several makes and models in active operation since the early 1970s. Their factory site with head office are at Albourne near Hassocks in rural Sussex and usually carry on general work needed on old and new Coles, Iron Fairy and Jones models of many types. They also have set up a service network and a growing website for any necessary assistance aimed at customers seeking for help to their units of those 3 classic manufacturers. Their eternal rival smaller crane expert called Iron Fairy '''returned in 1997 and their revival was done by an independent South Yorkshire industrial engineering group who bought the BHCC IF Ltd brand. Further JONES Engineering Developments Finally in the early 1980s Jones Cranes Ltd also entered a technical agreement connection with a Suomi truck manufacturer called '''Lokkeri Rauma Repola OY Suomi (known as Lokomo outside Finland) of Tampere to supply Jones of the UK with Lokomo 8X4 cranecarriers powered by Volvo mechanicals and over 700 models were shipped from Finland to England for final assembly at the Letchworth factory. For a while Jones was also ordering new generation reliable Scania TDI lorry engines from Sweden to power their heaviest and largest mobilecranes constructed, besides using several domestic and wellknown powerful Cummins TD and Leyland TDI heavy truck engines both of which were the main running gear providers besides other mechanical brands and resources at the time. By 1992 Jones Cranes were only relying on British and Swedish drivetrains and mechanicals. Meanwhile in the 1980s Coles Cranes Limited already developed and made the new Coles Colossus HPT Harbour Port Towercrane, an enormous Coles cranetruck that worked both as mobilecrane and as a towercrane in less than 30min thanks to its fully new hydraulic capabliity for any of the two possible options.This latest giant Coles model then gave Jones Cranes new ideas in the early 1980s and after previous extensive experience producing harbour and port cranes using both crawlertracks and wheeled axles, there was time for them to develop something completely new. This brand new model took around six weeks for development and engineering it and the final result was called Jones 2200 HLB This was a special new mobilecrane on 4 axles, built with a new longer carrier chassis, a new longer latticejib with extensions fitted, used 2 new drivers cabs one much higher than usual and the other lower one with hydraulic elevating, 4 allnew hydraulic folding outriggers for up to 100 Ton lifts and its mechanicals were taken from modern heavy duty Scania DS11 TDI V8 400 bhp heavy duty truck engine. All these technical items remained on this massive and unique crane model, so to date it still remains the largest machine ever made by Jones Cranes Ltd so far, around 500 of these were produced. Jones Cranes Model Range Crawler cranes * Jones Iron Fairy MK6 (Non slewing jib unit) * Jones 355C * Jones 565C * Jones 851C * Jones 875C * Jones 971C Yard cranes * Jones KL15 1930s A small 4 wheeled crane for any 1 ton lifts * Jones KL22 1940s A cabbed model that could lift 2 tons * Jones KL33 1950s * Jones KL44 1950s * Jones KL66 1960s * Jones KL77 1970s * Jones IF18RT 1980s * Jones IF18RT 4WD 1980s Mobile cranes *The last 6 are offered with elevating drivers cabs with Cummins and Leyland and optional Scania TDI Lorry running gear available per customer choice. * Jones IF6M * Jones IF8M * Jones IF10M 4WD * Jones IF12M 4WD * Jones IF12A * Jones IF12T * Jones IF15AT 4WD * Jones IF15A 4WD * Jones IF18RT * Jones IF20T * Jones KL10-10 * Jones JC880 First appeared in 1992, it was a full hydraulic special crane that worked both as a Mobile Crane and as Tower Crane built on a long wide 8 wheeled chassis with 2 Cabs. * Jones 355M * Jones 565M * Jones 851M * Jones 871M * Jones 971M Ship loader cranes *Often fitted with hydraulic elevating drivers cab. Several can still be seen at work at some harbours everywhere. * Jones 355HLB * Jones 565HLB * Jones 851HLB * Jones 880HLB * Jones 971HLB One blue unit is shown on the left. * Jones 2200HLB Harbour Remains the largest ever Jones crane model built so far. * *;Truck mounted cranes *'The last 7 models were built in conjunction with Vickers AWD Ltd of South Marston in Wiltshire.' * Jones Fleetmaster * Jones KL44 * Jones KL66 * Jones KL10-10 6WD * Jones KL10-6LO * Jones KL10-16M 6WD * Jones KL11-12M * Jones KL15-30L * Jones 35-40RT * Jones 461M * Jones 475M * Jones 495T * Jones 551M * Jones 561M * Jones 661M Military models *Two special model were built for the Ministry of supply during WWII. * The 1943-45 Bridging Crane - 111 units built for the British Army. * The 1942-45 Barge Crane - 180 units built for the Allies used by British and French forces. Railway cranes *'The IF Tourmaline was originally a BHCC Iron Fairy railcrane model but was made by Jones Cranes who already built their own railway cranes though on lower volume.' * Jones KL44 Rail * Jones KL66 Rail * Jones Iron Fairy Tourmaline Gallery of Jones Cranes JONES 565M.jpg|A 1980s Jones 565M wheeled crane JONES 355M.jpg|A 1980s Jones 355 Wharf Crane AWD JONES KL10-16M 6WD Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1968 JONES KL77 Crane on Ex-Army AEC-AWD 6X6 Diesel Cranecarrier AWD JONES 35-40 RT Cranetruck.jpg|A 1990s Vickers-AWD TD Jones Cranetruck 35/40T Hydraulic JONES Poster with 1960s Models.jpg|1970s Poster Publicity of Jones Cranes Ltd JONES Poster with 1970s Models.jpg|1970s Jones Cranes Ltd Model Range poster JONES Poster with 1980s Models.jpg|1980s Jones Iron Fairy JIF Model Range poster JONES 495T Cranetruck.jpg|A 1980s Vickers-AWD V541 TD Jones 495T Cranetruck JONES 611M Cranetruck.jpg|A 1980s Foden FCC812 TD Cranecarrier with Jones 661 crane JONES KL10-10 6WD Cranetruck.jpg|A 1978 Jones KL10-10 MK3 6WD Mobilecrane JONES IF8M Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1978 Jones IF8 Mobilecrane JONES IF10M 4WD Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1990 Jones Iron Fairy IF12 4WD JONES IF10M Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1986 Jones Iron Fairy JIF8S Mobilecrane JONES IF12 4WD Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1998 Jones IF15A 4WD 4WS TD Mobilecrane JONES IF15A 4WD Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1996 Jones JIF15AT 4WD JONES Fleetmaster on Bedford TK Cranecarrier.jpg|A 1960s Jones Fleetmaster Mobilecrane JONES KL11-12M on Scammell Cranecarrier.jpg|A 1970s Jones KL77 on Scammell Cranecarrier JONES KL10-10 Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1976 Jones KL 10-10 6WD Mobilecrane JONES 565HLB.jpg|A 1980s Jones 565HLB Harbourcrane JONES 851M.jpg|A 1980s Jones 851M Crane JONES 871M.jpg|A 1990 Jones 565M Crane JONES 971C Crawler crane.jpg|A 1990s Jones 971C Crawlercrane JONES 355C.jpg|A 1980s Jones 851C Dockcrane JONES IF18RT Yardcrane.jpg|A 1990s Jones IF18RT 4WD TD Yardcrane JONES KL15 Yardcrane.jpg|A 1950s Jones KL15 yardcrane JONES KL22 Yardcrane.jpg|A 1960s Jones KL22 Diesel Yardcrane JONES KL33 Yardcrane.jpg|A 1970s Jones KL33 Hydraulic Yardcrane A_Jones_KL55_Diesel_Hydraulic_Yardrane.jpg|A 1970s Jones KL55 Diesel Yardcrane JONES KL66 Yardcrane.jpg|A 1970s Jones KL66 Diesel Yardcrane JONES KL66 Railcrane.jpg|1970s Jones IF Tourmaline Railcrane based on a IRON FAIRY 500P JONES KL77 Yardcrane.jpg|A 1970s Jones KL77 Hydraulic Yardcrane A 1970s trio a Jones, a Iron Fairy and a Coles mobilecranes.jpg|1970s Classics a Jones IF8S, a Iron Fairy Sapphire and a Coles Speedcrane A 1974 Jones Fleetmaster crane on Bedford TK lorry.jpg|A 1970s Jones Fleetmaster on a Bedford TKD Cranecarrier A pair of 1980s JONES IF10 mobilecranes.png|A pair of 1990s JONES JIF10A Diesel Mobilecranes 1994 JONES 2200 HLB Harbourcrane.jpg|A 1994 JONES 2200 HLB Harbour Port Crane 1994 JONES 565M Diesel Crane.jpg|A 1994 JONES 565M Diesel wheeled crane 1987 JONES IF15 Diesel Crane.jpg|A 1993 JONES IF15AT 4WD Mobilecrane Diesel 1994 JONES IF12 TD Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1994 JONES IF12 4WD 4WS Mobilecrane Diesel Longreach 1980s JONES 551 on VICKERS-AWD V518 Cranecarrier.jpg|A 1990s JONES 551 on Vickers-AWD V518 cranetruck 1980s JONES KL15-30L on Foden FC Series cranecarrier.jpg|A 1980s JONES KL15-30L on a Foden Diesel FC Series cranecarrier JONES 971HLB.jpg|A 1993 Jones 971M Harbour Port Crane JONES_KL10-6LO_on_Foden_FC16_Carrier.jpg|Jones KL10-6LO on Foden FC16 Carrier JONES 551M Cranetruck.jpg|A 1970s Jones 551 hydraulic crane on a Leyland Constructor cranecarrier 1987 JONES HLB2200 Container Crane.jpg|A 1990s JONES HLB-2200 Container Harbour Crane JONES 1990s crane.jpg|A 1990s Jones JC880 Harbour Mobilecrane Longreach JONES Military Crane.jpg|A 1990 JONES IRON FAIRY IF12M Military Diesel mobilecrane JONES Cranetruck.jpg|A 1980s Jones 661 hydraulic crane on a Foden Lowline cranecarrier JONES 571M Crane.jpg|A 1990s Jones 571M Diesel hydraulic wheeled crane JONES 565HLB Harbourcrane.jpg|A 1990s Jones 565 HLB Harbour Port wheeled crane 1970s JONES KL-1010 MK3 Cranetruck Diesel.png|A late 1970s Jones KL10-10M Mobilecrane Diesel JONES Cranes of the 1980s.jpg|A 1970s Jones KL77M and the new KL15-30M Mobilecrane models JONES KL66 Crane.jpg|A 1970s Jones KL66M Diesel Yardcrane JONES KL-1530 Cranetruck.jpg|A 1970s Jones KL-1530M Lattice on a Foden Lowline TD Cranecarrier 1980s JONES 561 Cranetruck Diesel.JPG|A 1980s JONES 561M hydraulic cranetruck on Vickers-AWD carrier JONES IF15A 4WD TD Mobilecrane.jpg|A 1999 JONES IF15A 4WD 4WS 15tonne Mobilecrane Diesel Preservation *Today several models are still operating in boat yards and docks plus many Heritage railways throughout the UK. * The VET Vintage Excavator Trust have a early 1980s Jones 565C crawler crane unit on their site at Threlkeld, Cumbria at the mining museum and its awaiting restoration so not yet working. (photo above) * There are still 2 units of KL 44 4 ton cranes surviving in store in New Zealand belonging to the local railway company and used daily on trains.KL44 listing On www.NZRcranes.orgwww.nzrcranes.org History of railway cranes in new Zealand * Some 120 Jones of several types were bought by the British Rail, and used for general railway works. * Many Jones IF Series mobile cranes are used in warehouses and yards with several Jones 900 Series cranes models used in warehouses, construction and engineering works all over the UK. See also * Construction Plant Manufactures, List of ;British Crane makers; * BHCC-IF Limited (Makes the famous Iron Fairy cranes) * Coles Cranes Limited * Cowans-Sheldon Limited * Crane Travellers Ltd * E. Boydell & Co. Ltd (Muir Hill) * F. Taylor & Sons Ltd * GCA Group (Grove-Coles-Allen) Ltd * Henry Cooch Ltd * Lambert Engineering Co. Ltd (better known as Hydrocon) * NCK-Rapier Ltd * Priestman Brothers Ltd * Ransomes & Rapier Ltd * Redler Conveyors Ltd * R.H. Neal & Co. Ltd * Ruston-Bucyrus * Stothert & Pitt Ltd * Taylor & Hubbard Ltd * Thomas Smith & Sons Ltd (also called Smith Of Rodley) ;Crane carrier makers; * AWD (All Wheel Drive) Co. Ltd * Vickers-AWD Limited References and Sources * Classic Plant & Machinery Magazine * Flickr, a photo website that includes copyright pictures of very good Jones crane models most of them in colour. * The current Iron Fairy and Jones websites are under construction but some pictures of both makes are seen. * Google Images has provided many good free photos of Jones Iron Fairy new and old models for viewing. Further reading * The Classic Construction Series The Histoy Of Cranes, many authors, The KHL Group International (England) 1997 * An Illustrated History Of Cranes , by Hinton J. Sheryn, Ian Allan Publishing (England) 1997 * Off Highway And Construction Trucks, by Arthur Ingram & Colin Peck, Blandford Press Limited (England) 1980 * The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Trucks And Buses, by Denis Miller, Quantum Books Limited (England) 2002 External Links * Company website * Southdown Engineers Parent Company website * CCMV Website http://ccmv.aecsouthall.co.uk/ is a UK website that includes many Jones Iron Fairy crane photos * The Italian machinery websitepages http://www.album-mmt.it/ some 67 Jones photos are seen in b/w and coloured * The Mascus machinery website http://[http://www.mascus.com www.mascus.com]/ currently has got 2 Jones units for sale each with photos * Another UK machinery website http://www.resaleweekly.com/ sometimes have one or two Jones units for sale Category:Jones cranes Category:Companies of the United Kingdom Category:Defunct companies Category:Mobile Cranes Category:Crawler Cranes Category:Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom Category:Crawler crane manufacturers